Red Sox 12, White Sox 11: Durbin's 13th-Inning Single Caps a Four-Hour Fight

August 6, 2026 - Boston - Eight straight wins is supposed to look easy by now. Thursday at Fenway looked like a bar fight that refused to end.

Caleb Durbin lined a single to center in the 13th to score Nick Sogard, and the Boston Red Sox outlasted the Chicago White Sox 12-11 in a game that ran more than four hours and needed every one of them.

A lead that would not stay put

Chase Meidroth got Chicago on the board with his 10th homer, a blast over the Green Monster off Ranger Suárez in the third. The inning turned into a 42-pitch ordeal. Suárez was done after three runs on three hits and 70 pitches. Luis Castillo, making his White Sox debut after a trade from Seattle, lasted four innings and allowed five runs, including a two-run homer from Connor Wong.

From there the night became a bullpen maze. Boston used nine pitchers. Chicago used eight. The Red Sox tied the game in four straight innings at different points. Wilyer Abreu's sacrifice fly knotted it again in the ninth. Anthony Seigler drove in three. Andruw Monasterio added two RBI doubles. Every time one club thought it had the last word, the other answered.

Extras, and more extras

Miguel Vargas scored on a Colson Montgomery sacrifice fly off Garrett Whitlock to put Chicago ahead 10-9 in the 11th. Abreu's sac fly scored Sogard to tie it again. The automatic runner kept inventing drama. The bullpens kept inventing outs until they couldn't.

Brayan Bello (4-6), the last of nine Red Sox pitchers, worked two innings for the win. Erick Fedde (6-7) was the last of eight Chicago arms and served Durbin's walk-off single. Boston won its eighth straight and 10th in 11 games. It also completed a series sweep and its 10th consecutive series win.

Injuries on both sides

Joey Bart left in the seventh with a fifth metacarpal fracture in his left hand. Willson Contreras missed his second game with illness. Neither club had a clean roster night, which only made the four-hour scrap feel heavier.

For Chicago, still leading the AL Central, dropping three at Fenway is a rough series against a Boston club playing its best baseball of the year. For the Red Sox, nights like this are how streaks get their reputation. Easy wins build records. Ugly wins build belief.

AthX Engine angle

Boston finished with 16 AthX Engine team fantasy points. Meidroth, on the losing side, led every hitter on the full slate with 16 hitting FP. That split is the whole game in one contrast: Chicago had the loudest individual bat, Boston had the last run. Fantasy boards measure production. Final scores still decide who leaves happy.

Track Caleb Durbin, Chase Meidroth, and the Red Sox boards on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

What it means

Eight in a row, 10 straight series, and a walk-off in the 13th is the profile of a club that has stopped apologizing for being in the AL East race. Chicago remains first in its division, which is the only soft landing available after a series like this. Both teams will feel Thursday in their bullpen arms for a few days.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, ESPN recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 6, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*